The trucks going to the local landfills are a lighter these days since Evangelical Community Hospital, in partnership with Hometown Disposal, introduced single stream recycling in September of this year at the facility that employs 1,460.

Single stream recycling allows the facility to have their recyclable waste co-mingled into single containers removing the need to sort out plastics, cans, newspapers, magazines, and more. The implementation of this method allows the Hospital to recycle more products and waste than ever before. By using the single stream method more types of plastics are acceptable for recycling including #7 plastics, a common plastic used in Evangelical operating rooms.

“Evangelical and its employees are giving their trash a second chance. Every item that is recycled is turned into something that can be used again and isn’t placed in the ground at our local landfills. These small efforts, made even easier by single stream recycling where you don’t have to worry about sorting the materials, makes a huge impact on our natural resources,” said Jesse Pyers, General Manager for Hometown Disposal.

In the first two months of use, single stream recycling has made it possible to recycle an average of 13,750 pounds of waste per month, double what was done previously. The change in what types of plastics are acceptable for recycling and the ability to easily recycle them alone will continue to have a significant impact on the waste that currently ends up in the landfills.

Not a part of single stream recycling at Evangelical because of confidentiality and large volume is the disposal of paper and cardboard. Those items, which in most cases are recyclable through single stream, are recycled through separate streams at the Hospital. On average the Hospital has been recycling 8,600 pounds of paper and 9,500 pounds of cardboard per month.

Gregg Rokavec, Director of Environmental Safety and Security at Evangelical, attributes the success of the recycling program to the employees, “This effort started as part of a core of dedicated employees who share a passion for environmental preservation. Our Green Team meets monthly to talk about how we can do more to protect the environment in which we work and live. The other part of the equation is the total acceptance of all of our employees to the recycling program and the efforts they put forth to making sure what can be recycled, is recycled.”

Evangelical has long held recycling as a priority, recycling items that are not commonly thought of as recyclable including scrap-metal, copper, lead acid batteries, fluorescent bulbs, and electronics.

Rokavec said, “We strongly believe in our commitment to the community as a facility that cares for the land it occupies as much as it does for its patients, neighbors, and staff.”

Evangelical Community Hospital received the Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award in 2013 for the fifth consecutive year, making it one of two hospitals in Pennsylvania to be recognized for consistent, positive patient experience.

Evangelical is a non-profit organization that employs approximately 1,460 people and has more than 170 employed and non-employed physicians on staff. The Hospital is licensed to accommodate 132 overnight patients, 12 acute rehab patients and 18 bassinets. The Hospital serves residents throughout the Central Susquehanna Valley, including those living in Snyder, Union, Northumberland and Lycoming Counties.

Members of Evangelical Community Hospital’s Green Team, a group of employees dedicated to helping the Hospital implement environmental protection policies and procedures, demonstrate the variety of items that can placed in the same containter for single stream recycling, including newspapers, magazines, cans and bottles. Single stream recyling, done in partnership with Hometown Disposal, makes it easier for employees and visitors to recycle and has doubled the amount of recycling done per month in just the first two months of implementing the program. Pictured from left to right: Evangelical Community Hospital’s Gregg Rokavec, Director of Environmental Safety and Security, Beth Strausser, Executive Assistant for Administration, and Dwaine Reeder, Assistant Director of Environmental Services.